Why Bob Seger Slowed Down for ‘Against the Wind’

When Bob Seger released 11th studio album Against the Wind in 1980, it was the second time fans had waited two years for a new release instead of the usual one.

But, as he told Uncle Joe Benson on the Ultimate Classic Rock Nights radio show, at that point in his career he was pursuing an approach he’d always been keen on.

“I think we took a little longer making Against the Wind,” he said. “’76, ’78, ’80 – every two years we would put out an album. And I kinda patterned myself after Peter Townshend and the Who because a lot of groups would put out a lot of albums. The Beatles were unbelievable: every six months, which is astounding.”

He continued, “Two years, at the time, seemed like a long time to the industry. They wanted one every year.” However, he resisted that pressure in order to “try and keep the quality up.” He added, “So it was really that, plus nine months of touring, six months of writing and then about six months of recording.” There was an additional element, too: “Each recording of each album got progressively longer, because as we learned more, how much more we could do, we went slower at it.”

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